What part of the swing plane is the most important ?

[the_coach]

Apex of the swing arc?

I read 'apex' to mean the highest point in something - highest point of the hands in the backswing is not was high as the the highest point of the clubhead in the backswing - & both these occur at different places in the backswing

my take the most important part of the 'swing plane' (as the thats the term frequently used but often times not understood) is the "final or eventual shaft 'angle'" at impact when viewed from a dtl viewpoint

- and the general point then being if you study the majority of high performing swings then just after transition when the lead arm is approaching being horizontal to the ground most of the top players have a shaft angle that is either parallel to or approaching being very close to parallel to the players "final or eventual shaft angle at address" note on the same shaft angle not 'plane'

in other words the players are very soon after transition having the shaft angle mimic the 'eventual shaft angle at impact' all beit the shaft angle at just before lead arm horizontal is most often 'higher '(when view from dtl) than the eventual impact shaft angle - but if you draw a line up the impact shaft angle to higher than the shoulder (on a dtl viewpoint) you can see how these players are moving to have the shaft at virtually the same angle (note shaft angle not the same plane) as can be seen by the 3 images in post #38 in post #25

so the take home point being as soon as possible after transition the shaft wants to 'echo' the angle of the eventual shaft angel at impact as there is only approx 0.27 secs give or take from just after transition to impact so the more out of whack the shaft angle is from the shaft impact angle at the time just after transition the more compensatory moves in a very short space of time have to somehow be made for an optimum strike reason why so many folks struggle with contact issues

whereas if the shaft angle just after transition echo's the impact shaft angle all that has to happen is a turn and swing through as the shaft is already on an optimum angle

 

[the_coach]

Too difficult a question for me I am afraid. When I think too much about swing paths and planes and such-like - things tend to go badly wrong.

understand where you are coming from that was largely the point of the original post how misunderstood 'swing plane' is when folks are looking at 2D images

but instead of 'plane' & just from a dtl viewpoint use the word shaft "angle"

see in these 2 images a line drawn up the 'eventual shaft angle at impact' (I would say that's the most important as it's at 'impact' - of course everything else counts too)

but see in theses images of 2 players chosen because folks would consider them to be swinging on completely different "planes"

but importantly if you look at the position of the shaft in the middle of the images (so momentarily after transition) at around when the lead arm is getting to horizontal to the ground the shafts angles are both virtually at a parallel 'angle' to their final eventual impact angles - so neither player is trying to lay the shaft down or stand the shaft up during transition - rather they are just 'matching' the angle of the shaft it will be at impact

[/IMG]

[/IMG]